Improvement in berry-boxes



C. W. WESTON.

Berry-Box.

Patented Oct. 23,1877.

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NITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. WESTON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BERRY-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,405, dated October 23, 1877 application filed March 1, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. WEsToN, of the city and county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented an Improvement in Berry-Boxes and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention consists in an improved binding for that class of berry-boxes in which the boxes are constructed by crossing two or more thin shavings or veneers at right 1 ngles to each other and bending their ends upward, or by bending up the sides of a single piece, and then securing the edges by a sheet-metal or other binding.

For convenience in transporting the empty boxes it is necessary to make their upper open ends wider than the bottoms; and this is done by flaring the sides outward toward the top of the box, so that any number of the boxes can be nested together.

By my improved binding I am able to make large boxes of this construction, whereas they have heretofore only been used for small fruit, on account of the difficulty of making them strong and rigid enough.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, in

which a box of this class with my improvement applied thereto is shown, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my fruit-box. Fig. 2 is a strip of veneer.

Let A 13 represent two wooden strips of veneers, each of which is scored on one side along the lines C C, so that the ends of the strips can be turned upward after their middles have been crossed to form the bottom.

The edges of these strips between the marks sides are turned up the widened edges will 1 fit closely together, and avoid the wide cor-. ner space above referred to, at the same time giving the proper flare to allow the boxes to nest.

In making large boxes of this construction, such as are required to contain peaches, plums, and other large fruit, the rim of the box must be made quite strongand rigid. To do this I make a sheet-metal binding and head in the following manner: I first take a sheet-metal strip sufficiently wide to form the bead and binding hereinafter described, and

bend the same into a triangular-shaped strip,

one of the sides, however, of this strip being about half the width of either of the two other sides, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing, in which let 1 represent the narrow side, and h i the wide sides, of the triangle, the side i being represented by a dotted line. I then place the narrow side 9 of this triangularshaped strip over the edge of the box, so that the two wide sides are upon the outside, and then compress the narrow side 1 and the upper half of the wide side i closely against the box upon opposite sides, so as to form a binding, 1), and a bead or 'casing,f, for a wire or cord, is, which is tied or otherwise fastened around the box, in order to strengthen the structure. This bead and binding strip also constitutes a brace upon the box, its conformation being such as will cause it to firmly em-' brace the sides of the box. This will be clearly illustrated by Fig. 3, where the narrow side 1 and about one-half of the width of the wide side a, designated, when compressed upon the box,

by the letter m, embrace the same to constitute a binding, and the side h of the bead or casing f rests and braces against the box along its entire edge a.

WVhat I claim is- I In combination with the herein-described berry-box, a bead and binding composed of a triangular-shaped metallic strip, bent to form a bead, f, for the wire upon the exterior of the box, and of a binding-strip extending from the bead over the upper edges of the sides, all

substantially as herein shown and set forth, and for the purposes specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

C. W. WESTON. L. s.] Witnesses:

JOHN L. BOONE, FRANK A. BRooKs. 

